I get envious of people who have probably indexed and catalogued their photos into various albums. However, when you have 33,826 photos the thought fears me with dread so I choose to ignore and live in the world of unorganised photos.
The same can be said for preparing for winter. If it was a simple case of digging out the winter boots and crampons it would be a simple job. Now I don't have 33, 826 items of winter equipment but today it has felt that I did. I kicked myself of the opportunity to play today when I realised that I haven't made the change into winter mode so instead I have been a proper boy scout and got my sh*t together.
What does that actually mean?
First up was getting the Scottish skis ready to rock n roll. I have learnt over the years that you really do need to look after the planks but it does take some time for a mere moral to get them ready for action. After removing their summer wax coat you spend the next 30 minutes trying to get all the wax off yourself before dragging it all through the house. Every day is a school day.
Mountain bike rucksacks have been replaced with ski touring rucksacks; crampons have been adjusted to normal winter boots and not 8000m boots; rock shoes have been replaced by Phantoms (well nearly, there is still the rock wall); bike helmets have been replaced by ski helmets; the summer rock rack has been replaced with a scottish mixed rack; the gps has been dragged out of storage and updated; batteries replaced on everything that needs them; avalanche transceivers have been sent away for a diagnostic test and to make sure the magic still works and all my winter woolies have replaced the summer thermals.
The crampon and ski repair kits have been refreshed and all my maps have been refreshed with ones that I can actually read.
Sad I know, but it's a big world out there and I for one needs to be prepared for everything she throws at me.